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Black treacle

Treacle miningis a joke about miningblack treacle(also known as molasses[1]) in a raw form similar to coal. The subject purports to be serious but is an attempt to testcredulity.Thick black treacle makes the deception plausible. The topic has been a joke inBritish humoursince the mid-19th century.

Origins[edit]

One possible origin of the joke is from 1853 when 8,000British Armysoldiers were camped onChobham Common.The camp included storehouses containing barrels. When the soldiers left for theCrimean Warand the site was dismantled, they buried barrels to avoid having to remove them. Some of the barrels contained treacle andChobhamvillagers who discovered and removed them were called "treacle miners" as a joke. Local folklore about treacle mining was extended into history back toRoman Britain.[2]

Another explanation is that the wordtreaclemeant "a medicine", derived from the appearance of the Greek derivativetheriacalmeaning medicinal (Greektheriake"curative", "antidote" ), leading to the various healing wells around Britain being called "treacle wells". Treacle later came to mean a sticky syrup after the popularity of a honey-based drug called "Venice treacle",and the continued use of the old form in the treacle wells led to the joke.[3]

Micaceous hematite, a possible source for some treacle mine stories

In Devon, on the eastern edge ofDartmoor,the remains of mines that producedmicaceous hematite,used aspounceto dust early ink to prevent smearing, are known locally as "treacle mines" since they show a glistening black residue that looks like treacle.

Locations[edit]

The village ofSabdeninLancashirecultivated a considerable body of folklore about local treacle mining in the 1930s.[4][5]The local newspaper helped foster the myth, publishing numerous stories about the fictitious mines.[6]

The paper mills aroundMaidstonein Kent were known as "TheTovilTreacle Mines "[7]by locals, after the area where one of the mills owned by Albert E. Reed[8]was situated. The company helped the myth with a float in Maidstone carnival with a "treacle mine" theme.

One suggested source of the story in this area is a rumour that the paper industry was threatened during theSecond World Warbecause there was no importedtimber.Fermentation of straw was tried, creating a sticky goo. There were attempts to make paper from other than rags in the 19th century and an early commercial success was achieved by Samuel Hook and his son, Charles Townsend Hook, using straw at Upper Tovil Mill in the 1850s. The road next to Upper Tovil Mill became known, and was later named, as Straw Mill Hill. To produce pulp, the straw was cooked in hot alkali. After separation of the fibre, the remaining liquid looked like black treacle. Upper Tovil Mill closed in the 1980s and the site was used for a housing estate.

TudeleyandFrittendenin Kent are also said to have had treacle mines. A tank wagon on theKent and East Sussex Railwaywas painted in sham "Frittenden Treacle Mines" livery in 2009.[9]

Suggestions of a treacle mine inBuxtedwere published by the "Friends of Horwich".[10]

Tadleytreacle mines had a local hotel named after them and a Tadley Treacle Fair is held. Legend says the name derives from using treacle tins to store money because banks could not be trusted. The tins were buried around the village. Criminals mined for tins.

Hemel HempsteadinHertfordshirehas a legend of having a treacle mine and a local nickname since aroundWorld War Iwas "Treacle Bumstead".[11]Wareside,also in Hertfordshire, has long had its own "treacle mines". When asked "where have you been?", it was often a popular answer in and aroundWare,to say "down the treacle mines!"

Treacle mines have also been claimed in the twin villagesTrimley St. MartinandTrimley St. Mary(Suffolk),Wem(Shropshire),Talskiddy,Bisham,Nuneaton,Sway(Hampshire),Ginge(Oxfordshire),Chobham(Surrey),Tongham,Tadley,Skidby,Ditchford,Crick(Northamptonshire),Debdale(Leicestershire),Dunchideockand many other locations acrossSomersetandDevon,[12]in several northern towns includingNatlandandBaggrowinCumbriaandPudseyin Yorkshire,[13]inCroftamie,Scotland, and in the fictional village of Wymsey.

Actual places[edit]

The Treacle Mine public house inThurrock,Essex

Severalpublic houses,restaurants and hotels have borne the name. The Treacle Mine public house inGrays,Thurrock,Essex (pictured above) is an example, and the adjacentTreacle Mine Roundabout,which features on the local bus timetable, is named after the public house.

There is a restaurant/pub named Treacle Mine inPolegate,East Sussex;.[14]The name refers to the Polegate treacle mines, a long-running tale in the area that is very popular, with locals dressing as treacle miners for the 1978 Eastbourne carnival. The origins are believed to be associated with a nearby sweet factory.[15]

The Broomsquire Hotel inTadley,Hampshire, was previously the Treacle Mine Hotel; and another Treacle Mine pub is inHereford.

Since April 2009 the town ofWincantonin Somerset, twinned withAnkh-Morpork,has had a Treacle Mine Road.[16]

Cultural references[edit]

The Treacle Mine has been a joke played on children and the gullible since at least the nineteenth century.

  • Ottershaw SchoolinSurrey(a state boarding school founded in 1948 and closed in 1980) encouraged all new boys, on their first Sunday, to wait outside the Main gate for the coach that would take them on an outing to the Chobham Treacle Mines.
  • InAlice's Adventures in Wonderland(1865) byLewis Carroll,Alice is shushed at theMad Hatter'stea party for disbelieving a story told by theDormouseabout a treacle well, inspired by theholy wellatBinsey, Oxfordshire.
  • InUncle and the Treacle Trouble(1967), a children's book byJ. P. Martin,the main character (an elephant named "Uncle" ) discovers the true meaning of a cryptic sign which reads "Treac Levat"; the characters soon discover that it relates to a vast hidden treacle vat.
  • Treacle mining features in several novels byTerry Pratchett.On the fictionalDiscworldtreacle is mined from buried deposits of compressed ancient sugarcane. In the city ofAnkh-Morporkthere is a street named Treacle Mine Road, with the current watch house (analogous to a police station) found in the building formerly housing the entrance to a treacle mine. The books also make references to "deep treacle" deposits beneath the city. As with many features of the Discworld, treacle mines existbecausepeople believe in them, according to the Discworld's Theory of Narrative Causality.
  • The Treacle Peoplewas a children's TV show from 1996 based around the treacle mines ofSabdeninLancashire.
  • All the members of the Seven ChampionsMolly Dancers[17]fromKentare reputed to be treacle miners.
  • Some ofKen Dodd'sDiddy Menwere said to work in ajam buttymine. This appears to be a similar concept.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Molasses".BBC Good Food.Retrieved1 September2021.
  2. ^August Imholtz & Alison Tannenbaum (2009).Alice Eats Wonderland.Applewood Books. p. 53.ISBN978-1429091060.
  3. ^Cooper, Quentin & Sullivan, Paul (1994).Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem.Bloomsbury.ISBN0-7475-1807-6.[page needed]
  4. ^William Reginald Mitchell (1977).Lancashire mill town traditions.Dalesman. p. 9.ISBN0852064144.
  5. ^Bob Dobson (1973).Lancashire nicknames and sayings.Dalesman. p. 63.ISBN0852061773.
  6. ^Jennifer Westwood & Jacqueline Simpson (2005).The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys.Penguin Books. p. 871.ISBN0141021039.
  7. ^Tovil pronounced to rhyme with "Bovril"– not" Toeville ")
  8. ^"Reed Elsevier – Product highlight".Reed Elsevier.Archived fromthe originalon 12 December 2004.Retrieved31 January2011.
  9. ^"Nº. 132 – Esso 14 ton Tank Wagon Nº. 2338".Kent & East Sussex Railway. Archived fromthe originalon 18 December 2013.Retrieved23 January2012.
  10. ^Buxted Treacle MineArchived17 July 2011 at theWayback Machine
  11. ^Sears, Ken (2013).The Boy from Treacle Bumstead: A Country Lad's Journey from Reform School to National Service.Simon & Schuster Ltd.ISBN978-1471113574.
  12. ^Barber, Chips (1982).Around & About the Haldon Hills.Obelisk Publications. pp. 95–97.ISBN0-946651-14-0.
  13. ^"Pudsey".All Things Treacle.Retrieved17 November2017.
  14. ^Table Table."Treacle Mine Restaurant".Whitbread plc. Archived fromthe originalon 3 October 2011.Retrieved30 July2011.
  15. ^"Treacle Mine Whitbread Inns Restaurant in Polegate, Eastbourne | Whitbread Inns".www.whitbreadinns.co.uk.Retrieved1 May2017.
  16. ^"Roads named after Discworld books".BBC News. 5 April 2009.Retrieved17 August2011.
  17. ^Seven Champions Molly Dancers

External links[edit]

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